Little Heath Nursery Playgroup

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Enthusiastic leaders and staff welcome children warmly into this exciting learning environment. Their nurturing approach and strong knowledge of children enable children to settle well and remain engaged in meaningful play throughout their time at the setting. Children demonstrate that they feel safe and secure. They chat confidently to visitors and are keen to show them the activities they enjoy and engage them in play.

Children develop a sense of ownership and belonging in their nursery. Staff provide opportunities for children to take on roles of responsibility throughout the session. Children play a key role in organising activities and maintaining their learning environment. For example, children wipe down tables prior to eating and tidy away resources. They delight in taking turns to ring the bell and alert their friends to key routines in the setting.

Leaders and staff implement an effective key-person system. This allows children to form close bonds with nurturing staff who have a robust understanding of their needs and early experiences. Children with special educational needs and/or disabilities benefit from particularly precise support. This careful consideration for children's individual needs enables all children to make strong progress from their starting points.

What does the early years setting do well and what does it need to do better?

• Relationships with parents are strong and respectful. Parents talk enthusiastically about the team and the nurturing care it provides. They particularly appreciate the focus staff place on children's emotional well-being. Parents comment on how this supports children to 'grow as individuals'. Communication between staff and parents is strong. Parents discuss how they stay informed about children's routines and progress verbally and via an electronic journal system. They state that the ideas the staff provide enable them to further support children's learning at home.
• Morale is high, and staff are passionate about their role in promoting children's development. They comment on the immense support they receive. Leaders encourage staff to develop their knowledge and skills further. They provide a wealth of online and face-to-face training opportunities that staff embrace.
• Children develop a love of books from an early age. Staff encourage children to find pleasure in exploring stories independently throughout the day. Children join in exciting, interactive story sessions where they explore their choice of books with enthusiastic staff. These strategies develop children's early literacy skills and allow them to practise essential routines required for their next stage of learning.
• Staff provide a good balance of planned activities and free-play opportunities.
• Children explore a vast range of age-appropriate resources that support their different interests. Group activities are arranged to promote specific areas of learning based on the needs of this cohort of children. However, sometimes staff do not adapt their teaching sufficiently during group sessions to support the precise needs of the individual children involved.
• Leaders construct a strong and appropriate curriculum that is well implemented by staff. They understand how developing children's emotional well-being and fluency is central to their future learning. During all activities, staff encourage children to explore their emotions and what causes these feelings. For example, children explore their faces in mirrors. They discuss their feelings before drawing self-portraits reflecting these. During a modelling dough activity to develop their hand strength, children create faces that display various emotions.
• Children are critical thinkers who relish solving problems in their play. Attentive staff support children to embrace challenges and persevere in achieving their desired outcome. For example, children create pictures with various wooden shapes. When they run out of semicircles, staff encourage them to identify the other shapes they could use to form their pictures.
• Leaders and staff reflect diligently on practice and make well-considered changes. They are committed to enhancing the care they provide and support the specific needs of children. For example, recent changes to snack and meal times provide sociable routines that support children's preparation for school.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• ensure staff take every opportunity to adapt their approach during group activities and support all children to make consistently outstanding progress from their starting points.